In the natural hair community, monitoring hair growth is common. To this end, some naturals are very diligent in monitoring and keeping track of any amount of progress and are very interested in anything that might promote hair growth.
Miconazole Nitrate (better known as “Monistat” followed by a 1,3 or 7, indicating the number of days a woman should use it to treat a yeast infection”> is said to stimulate hair growth quite rapidly. Can something so simple as a vaginal cream really make your hair grow? If it does, should you be putting this antifungal cream on your scalp?
Is This For Real?
Regardless of its intended use or the box it comes in, Monistat is merely a cream. It’s an antifungal cream, designed to combat the overgrowth of yeast in the vagina along with other things such as athlete’s foot, ringworm and jock itch. But again, it’s just a cream. There’s really no reason to be horrified at putting it on your scalp!
Why It Works
With so many women who swear by using Monistat for hair growth, you may wonder what’s in that little tube that can help your hair grow. It may not be that there’s anything specific in the formula causing hair growth. Rather, it’s possible that the antifungal cream kills off fungus on your scalp — fungus that would otherwise stunt hair growth.
How It’s Done
It’s possible that the antifungal cream kills off fungus on your scalp—fungus that would otherwise stunt hair growth.
We found one blogger who runs a blog specifically about using Monistat for hair growth (actually, that’s the title of her blog“>. On her blog, she posted a video showing two different methods of applying Monistat to your scalp.
For the first method, she suggests putting a small amount of Monistat in a little bowl and mixing in a few tablespoons of water. You can then put that mixture into a squeeze bottle with a pointed tip. Part your hair down the center and begin applying the solution to your scalp and massaging it in, working your way down to the bottom of your hairline (by your neck”>. Continue this process over your entire scalp, sectioning off hair as you go.
With the second method, you’ll just squeeze a small amount of Monistat straight from the tube and apply it directly to your scalp using your fingers.
Considerations
Obviously, Monistat isn’t marketed as a hair growth cream. That’s not to say it doesn’t work to encourage hair growth, but it’s good to keep in mind the possible side effects. Some people have reported experiencing a tingling or burning scalp, an itchy scalp, a very tender scalp and ringing in the ears. However, this seems to happen when people apply it straight out of the tube to their scalp without diluting it.
If you are naturally prone to skin irritations (or have tried Monistat for its intended use and experienced burning and pain”>, definitely dilute the cream before trying to rub it into your scalp. You should also do a test area of your scalp where you apply it to just a small section and see how that goes. If doing so doesn’t cause any problems, you’d probably be okay to apply it to your whole scalp.
So curlies, would you try using Monistat for hair growth?
